Sony Xperia sola

It shouldn't be a surprise to anyone that Sony is now ending official software upgrades for several of its older Xperia models. But owners of some of these devices need not despair as there is some light at the end of their tunnel, though not coming from Sony itself.

Desperate to try out some touch-free web browsing on your phone? Then grab a plane ticket, buddy - you're headed for Hong Kong. Taiwanese online retailer ePrice reports seeing the Xperia Sola in the city, priced at just under $3,000 HKD. That's the equivalent of $387 US, not that it matters: at this point Sony has only confirmed the phone for Hong Kong and greater China.

Sony's latest device, the touch-less Xperia sola has just hit the FCC in a full out teardown where we get to see everything under the hood. In case you missed the announcement post this phone has some cool touch-less features and NFC capabilities and more but check it all out below and in the FCC filing provided.

That "Pepper" handset we saw yesterday didn't stay obscure for very long. Sony has just announced the Xperia sola (keeping its maddening trend of strange capitalization going strong) for launch in the second quarter of 2012 in Europe. Other territories will follow, presumably including Japan and (eventually) the US. The Sola fits in between the Xperia U and Xperia P announced at Mobile World Congress earlier this month, adding in premium features including camera gestures and NFC tags.